PCNAs, Mergers, Toys, Sports & Arts 24th September 2016 Dear All We seem to do so much – and the world (or Councils) around us, keeps changing…
Parent Carer Needs Assessments (PCNA) The principle behind the PCNA stems from the Care Act – it is “the right to ordinary lives”. Earlier in the year (19th March to be precise) we included news of the PCNA’s in these bulletins. SFV had worked closely with AfC’s Strategic Head of Family Support to create the process and form for these. Here’s a reminder:
…what’s the point of a PCNA? Very simply, a PCNA looks at what parents & carers need to enable them to carry on caring. We know that our task as parents of children & young people with additional needs brings additional stresses outside ‘normal’ parenting (most parents are not as familiar with hospitals as we might be). The PCNA is your chance to consider your role as a carer and what help you may need to support you, to maintain your own health, as well as balancing your caring role with other aspects of your life, such as work and family. Your PCNA will help to clarify your needs and to identify sources of support which could help you. There is no doubt that the first version of the form is imperfect – however, we can review this after a few months. We are, however, quite clear that: no parent/carer should come away from the assessment empty handed whilst there is no duty to commission new services (only to assess), the data the PCNA will produce will (and must) inform future commissioning.
So… how’s it going? Please tell us your experiences of requesting a PCNA. How did it go? Did the process meet the intentions above? Perhaps it exceeded them? Perhaps not? Please reply to this e-mail and let us know. https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/pages/home/assessment-and-education-health-and-careplanning/parent-carer-needs-assessment
Children’s & Young People’s Plan – 2017-2020 Last week an SFV representative attended a workshop on this plan for 2017-2020; the plan informs commissioning (ie if it’s not in the plan, should it be commissioned?) At Kingston & Richmond Councils’ request, SFV will be running the consultations for families of children & young people with SEND. What resonated as we left the meeting was, that whilst no-one can argue with principles or values of the Plan (safety, wellbeing, achievement etc), our consultation will influence is how